Let me start by saying that I have owned every console dating back to the Atari 2600 VCS, and I have walked home with every console on launch day since the 3DO. I am not trying to brag, in fact if anything, it may be a desperate cry for help (the thought of a new game system out “in the wild” and not in my house would probably keep me up at night. I share this with you, in hopes of trying to put my thoughts and comments in perspective and with an attempt to objectively chronicle my reactions to the launch results and capabilities of the Sony PS3.
A couple of weeks ago when it was clearly evident, that the only way I was going to bring home a PS3 on launch day was to either pay through the nose or take three days of vacation and go for a camping trip in a local retailers parking lot, I opted for the former and made arrangements with a local eBayer (who as fate would have it… had actually mistakenly picked up a preorder for a PS3 when he thought he was waiting in line for a Wii) to take our transaction offline and at a more reasonable price.
Acquisition
I met my seller in the parking lot of an area Gamestop @ 11:45 PM on Thursday night, where I paid the remaining balance on the preorder (plus extended warranty) and was back on the road to my place a couple of minutes after midnight. I ended up with the 60 GB model, an extra controller and a few games:
- Resistance: Fall of Man
- Ridge Racer 7
- Madden 2007
- Genji: Days of the Blade
- Mobile Suit Gundam: Crossfire
- Untold Legends: Dark Kingdom
With an HDMI cable (which I had purchased the night before in anticipation) the setup was extremely easy. Actually took longer to get it out of the box than it did to have plugged in and powered on. That being said… the first thing I needed to do was grab the latest Firmware (version 1.1). The setup to connect to my Wi-Fi network was also extremely easy (if not the exact same interface & process to get my PSP on a Wi-Fi network).
Games / Gameplay
Of the 3 Next Generation Systems, I think even the ardent Fanboy would have a time arguing that the PS3 doesn’t have the weakest launch lineup.
Resistance: Fall of Man is easily star of the launch, and while it plays well, it is pretty standard FPS fare, and not only did the graphics not come close to rivaling Gears of War (something I was very much hoping for) but they are no more impressive than Call of Duty 2 (still an impressive mark – but less than I was expecting to see a full year later).
Madden 2007 seems to be an exact port from the 360 version and will most likely come down to controller preference (more on that one later).
Ridge Racer 7 was the only game that really seemed to offer more than the 360 counterpart, including more detail and a somewhat more muted color palette.
Genji: Days o f the Blade plays like a cross between 99 Nights and Ninja Gaiden… straight up one player action here.
Untold Legends: Dark Kingdom is a little like a cross between Gauntlet & Diablo. Button mashing fun… that I really enjoyed (looking forward to taking this one online).
Mobile Suit Gundam: Crossfire plays like a developers demo for Mech Assault – absolutely nothing redeeming about this game – I look at the case and think “there’s 20 minutes of my life I’m never going to get back”.
User Interface
The interface is an exact replica of the PSP user interface. Nothing too exciting, but it certainly is functional.
Sixaxis Controller
The controller is not as cheap feeling as I had thought based on my impressions of a demo unit at E3. The lack of the rumble feature is Very Much missed, especially in Ridge Racer and Madden. Also the only means of charging the enclosed battery is to connect the controller via a USB cable to the PS3 which means I spent the first two hours of playtime early on the morning of the 19th, 3 feet away from the PS3 & screen. Also – the Sixaxis controller will only charge when the PS3 is powered on (Hint: Plugged into my G5 it charges just fine as well). The PS “button” which serves as the similar function as the guide button on the 360, looks cheap and tacked on. The Good: The Sixaxis feels nearly identical to the PS2 Dual Shock controller (which was a damned fine controller). The Bad: The motion capabilities feel tacked on (if not worthless) on the launch lineup and the lack of rumble is sorely missed. The Ugly: With the exception of the motion sensing capability (which has yet to demonstrate a usefulness or worthwhile purpose), the 360 controller is superior in every other way.
Backwards Compatibility
I’ve spent more time digging back and playing some of the more recent PS2 releases (SOCOM 3, Star Trek: Encounters, FF XII, and Ace Combat) than I have on any of the PS3 titles I have. The negative side of BC on the PS3 is that the PS1 & PS2 games are not enhanced graphically in any way and actually play in their original resolution (no upscaling), which means your old games… really look old. But they do play well… and all of my PS1 & PS2 titles have played thus far without issue.
Sony Online Store & Playstation Network
The Sony Online store, like so many of the games, feels half-done, with no compelling content, and a slow and labored interface that begs for a future update/re-design. The largest differentiator is the online capabilities. The Playstation Network is free… and that’s about all I can say about that. Xbox Live for the 360, by comparison, is able to offer a seamless and consistent online presence and experience, the Xbox Live Marketplace is relatively quick and straightforward (not to mention content laden) and Game Achievements have become an extremely addictive means by which to gauge my gaming capabilities and a feature set that is sorely lacking in the Sony space.
Final Thoughts
Trying to be as objective as possible, my initial thoughts are that Sony should have waited another 6 months or more to release this thing. Everything has this “half done feel” and with the exception of Backwards compatibility, there is absolutely nothing that the PS3 does better than an HD-DVD attached Xbox 360 doesn’t do better (and not just slightly better – but orders of magnitude better).
The PS3 is easily a major leap forward over the PS2, the Blu-Ray movie capabilities, granted it was with Talladega Nights (and for the "Love of Cinema" why was THIS the title they packed with it?) look great. The system, at best offers a similar gameplay experience of that of the Xbox 360 literally, with many of the launch titles ports of from the 360. The Sony exclusives, with the exception of Resistance and Untold Legends are marginal and disappointing.
Purchasing a PS3 is a solid purchase if you already have an established Playstation game library, or if you are looking to catch up on a number of PS2 exclusives. Purchasing a PS3 is also a bet on the future capabilities of the machine, but with so much already available elsewhere and no clear indication that things (specifically Sony’s online strategy) are going to change for the better anytime soon, for the average consumer it seems a needless gamble of time and money.
Am I disappointed I bought one, not really, after all it is sitting here in my media room and as a “gadget loving early adopter” I can sleep at night. But for the foreseeable future, it will easily be the machine of second resort behind my Xbox 360.
